These protests happened today. There may have been others that I didn’t catch.
Canada
Activist ties self to geo-phone bags, SWN refuses Sundance break, another illegal security blockade
Interview with ‘Pochahontas’, Elsipogtog resident who tied herself to heli bags
England
Anti-fracking protesters halt Sussex shale gas operation
Activists in Balcombe block lorry carrying equipment for drilling operation that is due to start next week
Argentina: Indigenous population occupied fracking rigs from Chevron
UPDATE: Police have arrested 17 people at the Balcombe site.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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Alberta’s “Best in the World,” “World-Class,” “No Duty of Care,” spying, lying and law violating energy regulator – the ERCB, turned EUB, turned back to the ERCB, recently turned to the AER with Encana’s VP Gerard Protti appointed as Chair – is too busy changing names and calling me a terrorist in a legal brief filed in Court of Queen’s Bench to deal with industry’s widespread non-compliance, including encana’s.
The Rachel Maddow Show on the Primose blowout in Alberta and more
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rachel-maddow-show/52571348
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/environment/new-report-less-1-percent-tar-sands-environmental-infractions-penalized
Of the more than 4,000 infractions reported, less than 1-percent (.09 to be exact) received an enforcement action (that would be less than 40 of 4,000). Compare this the US Environmental Protection Agency, who has an enforcement rate of 16% for similar infractions by companies under their Clean Water Act. When it comes to environmental protection, we suck more than the Americans (even during the George W. Bush years).
Fabulous photos of imagination and stand to protect community:
http://reelnews.co.uk/fracking-protest-victory-for-activists-and-balcombe-villagers/
A Polish village says ‘no’ to fracking
http://news.yahoo.com/polish-village-says-no-fracking-151003758.html
The people of Zurawlow once supported the proposal to drill in the “Grabowiec concession,” a gas-rich region running beneath southeast Poland, in the hope that it would create much-needed jobs in the region. But that changed when two families’ well water turned black after Chevron’s seismic tests in 2010. …
“We were at a village meeting with the head of Chevron Poland. He told us the chemicals they will inject into the ground will be salt and lemon juice. That’s when I realized they treated us like we were ignorant,” says Wieslaw Gryn, whose 600-hectare (1,400-acre) farm is one of the most productive in Poland.
Imagine! http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-carson-emergency-contaminated-neighborhood-20130723,0,6168187.story
In 2010, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board told residents not to eat fruit or vegetables grown in their yards. And a letter from Shell urged homeowners to limit their contact with “exposed soils in your yard.” Recently, an AT&T crew installing telephone lines reported finding oil oozing out of a hole just three feet deep. The water quality board ordered Shell to clean the 44-acre site more than two years ago. Since then, investigators hired by the company have conducted lengthy yard-to-yard testing to determine whether hydrocarbons in the soil are converting to harmful vapors.
Note diagram on page 16 of this EPA report: http://www.epa.gov/oswer/vaporintrusion/documents/vaporIntrusion-final-guidance-20130411-reviewdraft.pdf
Communities are smart and courageous to say no.
Hi Neighbour,
“the ERCB, turned EUB, turned back to the ERCB, recently turned to the AER”
Speaking of name changes, have you noticed just about everybody at that agency is named Bob? I think they’re taking it up a notch.
And speaking of terrorists, have they found the guys who turned your community’s water into a bomb?
Anybody on that? Maybe Bob?
The bob’s are holiday
I’m not surprised.
I remember their last “holiday” to France … just before they banned frac’ing. First impressions are everything.
Hi Neighbor,
fancy meeting you here. (many thanks txsharon, for the great meeting place.)
Before the frac ban in France, the ERCB’s Stephan Bachu and independent consultant Teresa Watson presented in Paris, France that an increase in the number of water wells in heavily fractured oil and gas fields increases “the likelihood that gas, due to migration through shallow zones, can accumulate in buildings.”
http://www.ieaghg.org/docs/wellbore/Wellbore%20Presentations/4th%20Mtg/19.pdf
Boom Boom.
http://www.inkcinct.com.au/web-pages/cartoons/past/2011/2011-511–coal-seam-gas-fracturing.gif
In Paris, Bachu and Watson also presented that in an area of Alberta where 55% of energy wells have multiple completions, the percentage of wells with “extreme” deep leak potential is 28%.
No wonder the bobs go “holiday” when questions get hot
eg
What chemicals were injected during completions on wells that leak?
What chemicals were frac’d into Alberta aquifers and how do communities prevent their bath water from detonating?
Why close water contamination investigations when regulator and industry data indicate companies – not nature and bacteria – are guilty?
http://www.bctwa.org/FrkBC-PrRel-July12-2013.pdf
Holidays are sure handy, in more ways than one.
Encana, where’s your Statement of Defence?
“on vacation,” says their lawyer.
I love meeting at Sharon’s, it’s so homey and she is the best hostess ever!
Wow, it’s uncanny how real that cartoon is, it looks just like when the Rosebud water tower blew up.
Encana’s Statement of Defence is probably on vaca because they’re also trying to draft an apology. I remember when Campbell’s water was destroyed, an Encana employee apologized profusely for ruining their water and devastating their lives. He couldn’t do anything to fix it mind you, but I suppose it’s the thought that counts.
I would imagine a good apology takes time. It’s probably difficult to put into words the truth, how and why that happened, their heartfelt remorse, how there’s no way to fix it, and their explanation for continuing along that path and destroying numerous other communities and lives.
And it’s probably not easy explaining to communities that what the company employees did in ruining their lives – is guaranteed to be followed up by “no duty of care 100% funded by industry” regulators and elected officials – whereby, the door will then be officially slammed on any hope or care for the families affected.
I expect the longer Encana takes, the more profound their apology is going to be … although I do believe the number of events requiring apologies is only growing, so they’d better get to it.
It’s not easy saying sorry we fracking up your water.
Did you guys see the Doug Hock quote in Bego’s latest? Google “Some experts say, fracking.” Try not to vomit.
Hi Sharon,
Definitely nauseating, let’s zoom in for a better look.
“The company said Thompson essentially ‘did not like having oil and gas activity on his property.’ ‘We realize that this is sometimes the case, particularly if an individual doesn’t have mineral rights and receives no economic benefit from our presence and activity,’ Encana spokesman Doug Hock said in an email. ‘Generally, we’re able to reach some sort of accommodation. In other cases, such as this one, it’s not possible.'”
Unfortunately, it appears Doug fails to realize all the mineral rights in the world can’t bring back your water or your family’s health, and I think his statement falls a little short: ‘and receives no economic benefit from our presence and activity,’ I would add … “only ruination and devastation.”
Fortunately for the big companies, they can afford the PR spin, but if we look a little closer at the little companies – before they’re absorbed by the big companies – we get a better idea as to why families “do not like having oil and gas activity on their property.”
I think it starts with the introduction, I remember a community matriarch from the Calgary area ringing up a company who started drilling and frac’ing in the area, and inquiring as to whether the company was going to have an open-door policy for residents to be able to express and discuss their concerns. The VP of Operations response to that was: “We don’t give a shit about the residents, we’re here to make money.” Now who wouldn’t be warmed up by that …
Sometimes though, they’re so honest as to put it in an email to a concerned group:
“Subject: RE: Objection 13227 Intrepid Tinda 13-18-36-1 W5 Well Licence Application # 1451992
‘Frankly, the Butte (fu….) Action committee can go fuck themselves. I am
not wasting any time on this response since I do not have time. I am not
meeting with them.'”
I believe the author of this energy company email, now holds a position at the National Energy Board (NEB) in Canada. (Seems it’s a bit of an incestuous industry.)
From there, we move on to the confidence-building company rep who recently showed up at a resident’s door to announce the frac attack, but when the question was put forth to the rep by the landowner, “If there’s a problem with our water, whom do we contact?” The response was, “Me, but I can’t do anything about it.”
Not much of a confidence builder, but I think it sheds some light on the mystery as to why people aren’t interested in “having oil and gas on their property.” Perhaps some families have just learned that having oil and gas on your property, means you lose everything else.
And finally, there’s the “goodbye party” for the landowner. After the contamination and devastation, comes the lawsuits, the settlements, the gag orders, families running from and abandoning their homes and communities en masse, except, when they find out the landowner has a crap-load of data, won’t settle or be gagged … ironically, it’s the company who runs like hell … away from the Court House and discovery.
Run Encana … run.
I love it when we catch them telling the truth.
Me too. Seems they can’t resist.
Hi Sharon, I had a shower today, first in over a week. I wonder how many North Americans know what it’s like not to have water. It isn’t healthy, and is a sure kick-ass ugly way to live.
and it isnt easy saying “sorry we killed so many of your loved ones and destroyed your community with our exploding frac’d bakken oil, but it wasn’t us who done it, it was your fire chief or maybe our one engineer”
“The catastrophe killed 47 residents and levelled more than 40 buildings. Investigators are testing the chemical composition of the oil carried by the train to help explain why the derailment triggered such a large and unusual explosion.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/oil-company-disputes-lac-megantic-cleanup-order/article13518237/comments/
Who am I to complain about not being able to bathe, when frac’d bakken oil killed so many and polluted so much drinking water?
and it isn’t easy saying “independent studies prove frac’ing is perfectly safe” when you know frac’d oil sinks like bitumen and companies refuse to pay to clean up:
http://lesamisdurichelieu.blogspot.ca/2013/07/riviere-chaudiere-les-craintes.html
english translation below the original article at link above.
and it’s gag-a-lot when “perfectly safe” turns out not to be:
“In addition to the extraordinarily high benzene levels, the soil has also tested positive for dangerously high levels of methane, leading some environmental experts to fear a massive fireball at Carousel should the gasses ever make it to the surface.”
http://www.lasentinel.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11578:285-homes-in-carson-contaminated&catid=80:local&Itemid=170
“Even in small amounts, [benzene] has been shown to alter DNA, the researchers write, and it is already linked to the development of leukemia, a blood cell cancer.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/29/us-home-distance-from-benzene-sites-link-idUSBRE96S0ZJ20130729
The whole world’s getting cranky about oil and gas industry abuses.
yes, i read the begos piece. in my view, doug hock speaks like our regulator bobs. imagine being cranky because we don’t have mineral rights and get no money for loss of health, loss of water, loss of bathing, loss of privacy, loss of quality of life, loss of loved ones, loss of time, loss of more time, loss of home, loss of property, loss of community, loss of quiet, loss of night sky, loss of clean air, loss of safe roads, and if we work in the patch and speak out – loss of business and career, and if we’re canadian and sue – loss of judge.
and then there are the losses society must bear each time contamination data is sealed by settlement and/or gag order.
No wonder the world is cranky about fracing, even in the UK where elected officials are offering bribes to entice communities to bear the brunt. Excellent Balcombe protest photos at: http://frack-off.org.uk/
Great post Sharon, and thanks Alberta Neighbor for your comments.
I know what it’s like to be without water. Don’t know if I ever told you but I spent the night on the floor of my closet so my son couldn’t hear my despair.
Frac’d oil with its own built-in “COREXIT,” brilliant. And just when Enbridge is dredging the Kalamazoo again.
“Oil has indeed sunk to the bottom of the Chaudière River after the train derailment at Lac-Mégantic confirmed a company given the task of cleaning the mess. This revelation is in contrast with the information given by the Environment Ministry that assured us a few days ago that there was ‘very little’ hydrocarbons in the watercourse.
… Yves-François Blanchet, the Environment Minister, has readjusted his opinion yesterday in Lac-Mégantic. ‘The nature of the product that was spilled makes it so that it does not flow naturally but can end up on the bottom of the river, he admitted.'”
“(Chicago, July 30, 2013)—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that Enbridge has begun a new round of dredging in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River to clean up oil from the company’s July 2010 pipeline spill.
… While dredging is underway, 12 miles of the river will be temporarily closed. Enbridge will dredge approximately 350,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment during this phase of the cleanup. During the past three years, nearly 190,000 cubic yards of oil-contaminated material and 1.15 million gallons of oil have been recovered from the river.”
http://www.epa.gov/enbridgespill/
I don’t know what it’s like to be without safe water, at this point I can only imagine, and listen and learn from others.
Thank you ladies, for your strength and courage in sharing.
Here’s one more:
They’re staying Back in the USSR
http://www.marcellusprotest.org/content/theyre-staying-back-ussr
This morning I found the email below, from a Ukrainian fracktivist, waiting in my inbox. I am proud of the work our grassroots group, Marcellus Protest does. This is just one reason why:
On July 4, 2013 several Ukrainian fracktivists contacted Marcellus Protest & asked for our help. They said the frackers at Shell were planning to bring a bunch of Ukrainians to NEPA’s frack fields & asked if we could alert fracking opponents in that area & ask them to come out & meet the Ukrainians & tell them the TRUTH about fracking.
We went into action & started getting the word out via every means we have: Facebook, email lists, MP’s website, personal contacts in NEPA & Twitter.
GUESS WHAT? Shell’s snooping on our internet communications, got wind of our plans & CANCELLED their fakey “Frack Fields are Lovely” summer PR tour!
With the extremely modest tools in our tool box we got Shell’s Goliath to back off, to stand down. That’s a pretty good way to start the day.
I”m kind of sad they canceled thought. It would have been such a great photo op to have you guys meet them.
NEPA = north east Pennsylvania. Marcellus Protest = SWPA, south west Pennsylvania. That’s about 400 miles away, we’re at opposite ends of the Commonwealth. But we’ve built up a network, it’s getting bigger & stronger every day.
Gloria recently posted..Keystone XL will increase green-house gas emissions; State Dept analysis is wrong.
[no need to publish this, but that site looks like a fun place to do some spoofing]
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Before_It%27s_News
Sharon, I doubt that Shell would’ve let us any where near the Ukrainians, probably would have them surrounded by uniformed & plain clothes security detail from dawn to dusk.
“I know what it’s like to be without water. Don’t know if I ever told you but I spent the night on the floor of my closet so my son couldn’t hear my despair.”
Ouch, sharon, that’s awful. Sincere frac’d Canadian condolences. Even when visiting a place with water, i’m haunted by the Hell that’s become my home.
Living frac’d scars for life.
Thanks sharon, for so much.
Alberta neighbor, you’re welcome.